Manner of combining coking-ovens and boilers fob



UNITED STATES PATENT FFIOE.

REUBEN MCMILLEN, OF MIDDLEBURY, OHIO.

MANNER -OF COMBINING COKING-OVENS AND BOILERS FOR THE GENERATION OFSTEAM.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 2,388, dated December 14, 1841.

To all whom z' may concern:

Be it known that I, REUBEN MCMILLEN, of Middlebury, in the county ofSummit and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful improvement inthe manner of combining coking-ovens with boilers for generating steam,by which improvement the heat liberated in the coking process is moreadvantageously and economically managed than has been heretofore done;and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exactdescription thereof.

I construct my coking oven or ovens in such manner as that thebituminous coal, which is to be converted into coke, shall be containedwithin two or more compartments, each of which compartments is furnishedwith a close fitting door or doors, made as nearly air-tight as can beconveniently effected. The bottoms of t-hese ovens, consist of aplatform of bricks, stone, or other suitable material upon which thecoal is to be laid, there not being any grate bars for the admission ofair. The steam boiler or boilers are placed so as to constitute theupper part of the ovens, their lower sides for their whole length beingexposed to the direct action of the heat extricated in the cokingprocess, precisely in the same manner in which such boilers are exposedto the heat, of burning fuel in the furnaces ordinarily constructed forthat purpose. The sides of my ovens may be formed of brick or stone ormay consist of plates of cast iron as shown in the drawing, the former,however, will be found to economize heat, as a less portion will be lostby radiation when brick or stone are employed.

In the accompanying drawing Figure l is a perspective view of my oven,and boilers. A, is a platform of brick work, the upper part of whichconstitutes the bottom of the coke oven.

B is a back wall, elevated above the platform, said wall being connectedwith and sustaining the chimney G; this wall, when more than two cokingcompartments are used, may contain flues leading from the ovens to thechimney. The ends and front O, O, are represented as made of cast iron,D, D, are feeding doors, which should be made to slide in grooves, asthey are in this way most readily made tight, and the draft admitted ismore easily regulated than when hung by hinges.

The line E, crossing the three boilers, H, H, H, shows the place of thedividing wall, or partition, by which the oven is divided into twocompartments; this is more distinctly shown in Fig. 2, which representsthe sides of the ovens with the boilers removed. F, F, represents theupper parts of two registers, or dampers, which regulate openings intothe chimney from the ovens, in the same manner in which the slidingdoors D, D, regulate the feed openings.

The partition, or partitions E, which separate the respectivecompartments, enable me to remove the coke, and to supply a freshquantity of coal to be coked, from one compartment, while the fulloperation is going on in another, and also to regulate the fire to theproduction of the amount of steam required. The discharge of the cokeand the furnishing of a fresh supply of coal is the operation of a fewminutes only; and

while this is being effected, the register F,

at the back of the oven is to be entirely closed, to prevent a draft ofcold air pass ing through the oven; the heat of the latter will producethe immediate ignition o-f the fresh coal, and the flame from this,during the burning out of the bituminous matter, may be increased ordiminished in intensity, by regulating the draft through the feed doorsand through the register openings, as there will not be any sensiblediminution of product of coke by increasing the inflammation of thebituminous matter while any considerable portion of it remains to beburned out.

The height from the bottom of the ovens to that of the boilers may bevaried according to the size of the latter; it may ordinarily amount tofrom two to three feet. By an apparatus of this construction I haveexperimentally proved that a larger portion of steam can be generated bythe heat from the combustion of the bitumin alone, than is ordinarilyproduced by the entire combustion of the coal when burned upon grates;the quantity of heat carried off by the draft through the chimney beingunder my arrangement comparatively small; and a vast portion of heatbeing also supplied by the coke in the completion of the process ofcoking after the doors and registers are closed.

From the above it will be seen that my improvement consists in soconstructing of the ovens,'or furnace, under the boilers as that theyshall consist of two or more chambers, or compartments and in theburning the volatile matter out of the coal in one of the chambers whilethe other is closed, and the operation of coking within it is beingrendered complete; the advantage oi' which arrangement is that I amenabled to regulate the generation of steam by opening or closing thedoor of the chamber in which the volatile matter is being burned outwithout disturbing the other chamber or chambers.

Having thus fully described the nature of my improvement, I do herebydeclare that I do not claim to be the first that has combined an ovenfor coking with a boiler or boilers for generating steam, with theREUBEN MeM-ILLEN.

Witnesses:

THos. P. JONES, Jos. ANDREWS.

